Aesthetic- or performance-enhancing, smart fabrics or e-textiles provide added value to the wearer, such as changing colors, lighting up, or improving performance in athletics or in military applications. In athletics, electronic garb can control muscle vibration, reduce wind resistance, regulate body temperature, and more. Such fabrics have digital component embedded with them, such as sensors, computers, and batteries and lights, as well as other electronics.
E-textiles could be used to shield the wearer in extreme environments such as space travel or high radiation. The health and beauty industries have entered the fray with drug-releasing textiles, as well as fabric that has moisturizing, anti-aging and fragrant properties. Electronic textiles diverge from wearable computing, as the focus is upon the seamless integration of textiles with components such as sensors, microcontrollers, and actuators. Semiconductor materials also include organic materials—such as inks and plastics, as they can conduct, while at the same time amenable to stretching and bending movements.
Never lose your fruit with This Smart Tablecloth
According to a study from Dartmouth College and Microsoft Research, researchers have designed a smart fabric that can detect non-metallic objects, including a misplaced apple or a pair of eyeglasses.
A study and demonstration video describing the sensing system were presented at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST 2020).
The fabric, named Capacitivo, differentiates between objects of various shapes and sizes by sensing changes in its electrodes due to the objects’ electrical fields. Variations in charge can relate to the type of material, size of the object and shape of the contact area. Data detected on the electrical charge is compared to data compiled in the system through machine-learning techniques.
“Being able to sense non-metallic objects is a breakthrough for smart fabrics because it allows users to interact with a wide variety of everyday items in entirely new ways,” said Te-Yen Wu aPhD student at Dartmouth and lead author of the study.1
Global Smart Fabrics Market to Reach $11.4B by 2027
According to a report by ReportLinker, the global market for smart fabrics is predicted to reach a size of 11.4 billion by 2027. In 2020, the market stands at $3.6 billion. That amounts to a CAGR of 18% between 2020 and 2027. The market in the U.S. in 2020 is $1.1 billion, while China is expected to grow at 17.4% during the next 7-year period.
The report further states that the U.S., Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the projected 18.2% CAGR for the fitness & sports segment of the market. The U.S. market is expected to be $1.7 billion by 2027.2
New textile could keep you cool in the heat, warm in the cold
Researchers from China have reported, in ACS Applied Materials &Interfaces, that they have created a fabric that can regulate its temperature in cold or heat, with no energy input. “Smart textiles” that can heat or cool have existed previously but having both functions in one fabric is a unique development. The researchers freeze-spun silk and chitosan, a material from the hard outer skeleton of shellfish, into colored fibers with porous microstructures. They filled the pores with polyethylene glycol (PEG), a phase-changing polymer that absorbs and releases thermal energy. Then, they coated the threads with polydimethylsiloxane to keep the liquid PEG from leaking out. The resulting fibers were strong, flexible and water-repellent. To test the fibers, the researchers wove them into a patch of fabric that they put into a polyester glove. When a person wearing the glove placed their hand in a hot chamber (122º F), the solid PEG absorbed heat from the environment, melting into a liquid and cooling the skin under the patch. Then, when the gloved hand moved to a cold (50º F) chamber, the PEG solidified, releasing heat and warming the skin. The process for making the fabric is compatible with the existing textile industry and could be scaled up for mass production, the researchers say.3
1. Dartmouth University, “Smart Tablecloth Can Find Fruit and Help with Watering the Plants,” Oct. 29, 2020
https://www.dartmouth.edu/press-releases/smart-tablecloth-can-find-fruit-water-plants.html
2. Report Linker, “Global Smart Fabrics Industry,” July 2020
https://www.reportlinker.com/p04368312/Global-Smart-Fabrics-Industry.html?utm_source=PRN
3. American Chemical Society, “New textile could keep you cool in the heat, warm in the cold,” April 15, 2020